The inventive subject matter described herein relates to the field of vehicle engine and power generation systems and, more particularly, to a system, method, and computer program for an integrated human-machine interface (HMI) for an engine generator, such as an engine generator of a vehicle propulsion system.
A power generation system of a vehicle (such as a marine vessel) may include multiple engine-generators operating singularly and/or in parallel. Typically, the operation of each engine-generator is monitored and adjusted by a management system to account for fluctuations in usage and environmental variables. While this type of adjustment is performed automatically by the management system during operation, engine-generators need to be maintained and periodically tuned in order to provide sufficient power for the vehicle.
Power generation systems may operate according to operator-defined parameters. Upon initial installation of a power generation system, the parameters may be set to default values. Some of these parameters, however, may be varied from the default values in order to provide improved engine performance. For example, the default limits used for the air-to-fuel ratio of an engine-generator may be varied to improve the efficiency of the engine-generator. In order to vary these parameters in some known power generation systems, however, typically an engineer from the manufacturer or provider of the power generation system must travel to the location of the power generation system. This engineer also typically has specialized equipment, such as a portable computer with specialized software stored thereon, that is used to tune (e.g., adjust) one or more of the parameters of the power generation system. The system may not permit the day-to-day operators of the system to modify the parameters. As a result, significant time and expense may be expended in requiring personnel from the manufacturer or provider (or other third party) to travel to the location of the system and/or to use specialized equipment to modify the parameters. Additionally, the ability to configure the operating parameters is dependent upon the working condition of the laptop computer, the data cable, and the software application. An error or failure with any of these three auxiliary components results in the improper configuration of, or the inability to configure, the engine-generator. Additionally, engines of a vehicle, such as a marine vessel, are often controlled using multiple control panels, which must communicate with each other to properly function. Conditions of a vehicle, however, can result in communications being somewhat inconsistent, which can result in problems with controlling and/or maintaining the vessel's engines.
Further, in power generation systems having multiple engine-generators, such as those responsible for vehicle propulsion, a technician may need to perform the same configuration process for each engine-generator. The repetitive nature of this task, especially when coupled with a large quantity of operating parameters, can be prone to entry errors by the technician. Additionally, calibrating and maintaining the engines of a vessel, can be expensive and time consuming. Since a technician is required to make changes to the operating parameters of conventional engine-generators, customers may be largely completely reliant upon the responsiveness of technicians to make even relatively minor changes.